The Spanish upgrade to chocolate during the 16th Century made it a highly desireable drink, and a rather expensive one, limiting its enjoyment to members of the upper classes. This, of course, means that people were willing to spend on Cortes beans - and they do. Since cocoa beans were in short supply, the Spaniards didnt go around trumpeting their cocoa. Not until the 17th Century. Can you imagine an entire population keeping their mouths shut for an entire century? 1585 AD, Well, cocoa beans go to market - in Spain - with the first shipment NOT destined for the Court of Spain and filthy rich people. 1609 AD, Libro en el cual se trata del chocolate is published in Mexico. It is the first of a billion books written about chocolate. 1615 AD, Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III of Spain, brings along a thermos of cocoa to her new husband, Louis XIII of France, and to the French court. Within a quarter century, the Court is in full throes of chocolate lust. When in 1643 Maria Theresa (Spanish Princess and Girl Most Likely to Succeed) becomes betrothed to Louis XIV of France, part of her engagement gift is chocolate, packaged in a fashionably ornate chest. Chocolate’s reputation as an aphrodisiac flourishes in the French court. Art and literature is replete with erotic imagery inspired by chocolate. Not only is the French Court hot on chocolate, chocolate fever expands beyond Paris and suffuses all of France. 1657AD, With all of France abuzz about chocolate, even the Brits hear about it, investigate, then return to open the first chocolate house in London. By the end of the Century, these chocolate houses will become the go to, trend setting spaces in the Metropolis. But the Brits arent done yet... 1674 AD, An out of the box thinking London coffee house uses chocolate in cakes and rolls for the first time. And the first stone in the path to the brownie is laid. 1689 AD, Hans Sloane - collector extraordinaire whose vast collections of just about anything served as the basis for the British Museum (you think he might have been picked for The Hoarders?) - was hanging around Jamaica, was served chocolate, found it nauseating until he smoothed out the rough edges with milk. When Sloane returned to England with the method and recipe for milked chocolate, apothecaries took it on as a new elixir. Eventually Sloane sold the rights to the Cadbury brothers which made their name with tins of Sloanes Drinking Chocolate.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 18:20:01 +0000
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